The Hagerstown Suns were a Minor League Baseball team based in Hagerstown, Maryland. They were a member of the South Atlantic League and, from 2007 through 2020, were the Class A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They played their home games at Municipal Stadium which was opened in 1930 and seated 4,600 people. The team mascot was Woolie, a giant woolly bear caterpillar.
History Toronto Blue Jays (1993–2000) The ownership of the previous Double A Hagerstown Suns chose to move their existing Hagerstown franchise to Bowie as the Bowie Baysox. Hagerstown would not go without, though. Winston Blenckstone immediately relocated his Myrtle Beach Hurricanes franchise in the Class A South Atlantic League (SAL) to Hagerstown after the 1992 season and promptly renamed them the Suns.
The change brought a competitive team to Hagerstown for the 1993 season. The offense got steady power production from Mike Coolbaugh, who led the team with 16 home runs. The best all-around hitter on the team proved to be D.J. Boston. Boston hit .315 with 13 home runs and 93 runs batted in (RBI). Those numbers were good enough to earn him league Most Valuable Player (MVP) honors. Two outfielders, Rickey Cradle and Jose Herrera, put together solid seasons at the plate for the Suns. Herrera hit .317 in 95 games, while Cradle belted 13 home runs. Brad Cornett led the team in earned run average (ERA), with a 2.40 mark, and also innings pitched, with 172.1. Silva went 12–4 with a 2.52 ERA in 142.2 innings. In that time frame, Silva struck out 161 batters.
In 1994, the Suns reached the playoffs for the first time since 1991. On offense, the team was led by former first round draft choice Shannon Stewart. Stewart hit .324 with 4 home runs and 25 RBI in an injury-shortened season. Tom Evans returned from the 1993 squad, hitting .273 with 13 home runs and 48 RBI in 95 games. The power was supplied by Lorenzo Delacruz and Ryan Jones, who hit 19 and 18 home runs, respectively. Jones also had a team leading 72 RBI. Edwin Hurtado went 11–2 with a 2.95 ERA in 33 games, 16 of which were starts. The bullpen was headlined by Steve Sinclair and Dave Sinnes. Sinclair appeared in 37 games out of the bullpen and picked up a total of 9 wins with 105 innings pitched. Sinclair only made one start for the Suns all year. Closer Sinnes tied for the South Atlantic League lead with 37 saves.
In 1995, veteran Jeff Ladd was the home run leader on the team. Ladd hit 19 home runs in 95 games before a promotion to Double-A Knoxville. That turned out to be Ladd's last professional season. Bobby Llanos hit 17 home runs and produced a team leading 63 RBI. The Suns got stable production behind the plate from Julio Mosquera. Mosquera hit .291 in 108 games for the team. Brian Smith pitched his way to a 9–1 record in 47 games out of the bullpen and picked up 21 saves along the way. He also had 101 strikeouts in 104 innings. Doug Meiners proved to be the Suns' best starter of the season. He went 8–4 with a 2.99 ERA in 18 starts. Another highlight from the starting staff was Tom Davey, who went 4–1 with a 3.38 ERA in 8 starts.
The 1996 campaign was the Suns' first losing year in the SAL. First basemen Mike Whitlock led the team in home runs (20) and RBI (91) with a .252 batting average while drawing a franchise record 108 walks. He did this in 131 games at the age of 19, yet never played a game in the major leagues. Another player who displayed power was Craig Wilson. Wilson hit 11 home runs with 70 RBI while maintaining a .261 batting average. Craig Stone returned from the 1995 squad, batting .310 with 10 home runs and 35 RBI in 56 games. Mike Johnson won a staff-leading 11 games and also had a team-leading total of 162.2 innings pitched. He made his major league debut a season later with the Baltimore Orioles. Tom Davey won 10 games and had a 3.87 ERA in 26 starts.
In 1997, the offense was led by Luis Lopez, who put together one of the best individual years by a Sun ever. Lopez batted .358 with 11 home runs and 99 RBI. These numbers would give him SAL MVP honors. The pitching staff was led by Clint Lawrence, who won a team-leading 13 games in 26 starts. One pitcher who had a bizarre season was starter Gary Glover. Glover posted a 3.73 ERA and threw a team leading 173.2 innings. He, along with John Bale, tied for the team lead in strikeouts with 155. Despite these advantages, his overall record was 6–17. Those 17 losses set a franchise record. The Suns finished in last place, 11 games behind first place Charleston (West Virginia).
The 1998 offense got power from catcher/first basemen Bobby Cripps. Cripps hit 29 home runs and also led the Suns with 88 RBI and threw out 47 percent of would-be base stealers in 56 games behind the plate. Mike Young batted .282 with 16 home runs and 86 RBI at second base. Two other future major league All Stars on the Suns that year were Vernon Wells and César Izturis. Wells batted .285 with 11 home runs and 65 RBI. Izturis meanwhile had a .262 average with a team-leading 20 stolen bases. John Sneed had one of the best seasons ever by a Suns pitcher, as he won a franchise record 16 games, while losing just 2, with a 2.56 ERA in 27 starts. He also collected 200 strikeouts in 161.1 innings pitched. Clayton Andrews returned from the 1997 squad and nearly matched Sneed's dominance. He went 10–7 with a 2.28 ERA and had 193 strikeouts in 162 innings pitched. The Suns closer was Jaron Seabury, who had a 1.65 ERA in 45 games with 17 saves. The Suns won the first-half division title and finished with the best record in the Northern Division. They made the playoffs and won in the first round, but did not advance to the championship because the league now had a three-round playoff format featuring 8 out of 14 teams. In the second round, the Suns would lose to the eventual league champion Capital City Bombers.
In 1999, Jay Gibbons was the best all-around hitter. In 71 games, Gibbons batted .305 with 16 home runs and 69 RBI. Second basemen Jorge Nunez batted .268 with 14 home runs and 61 RBI, while leading the team with 51 stolen bases. Outfielder Ryan Fleming hit .335 in 61 games. Tyler Thompson led the team with 17 homeruns and RBI with 81. Pasqual Coco went 9–1 in 14 starts with a 2.21 ERA. Scott Cassidy won a team-leading 13 games in 27 starts in 170.2 innings. He struck out 178 batters, leading the team. The Suns bullpen got a strong season from closer Jarrod Kingrey. Kingrey had 27 saves and 69 strikeouts in 61 innings. he Suns made the playoffs by winning the first-half division title and wound up with the best overall record in the SAL. They were knocked out of the first round by their division rival, the Cape Fear Crocs. This was the last season that the SAL used a three division (North, Central, and South) format.
The Suns had a losing season in 2000. Reed Johnson hit .290 with 8 home runs and 70 RBI in 95 games. Kevin Cash led the team in home runs with 10, while also contributing 27 RBI in 59 games. He displayed great defense by throwing out 55 percent of potential base stealers. Shortstop Brandon Jackson led the team with a .312 batting average, while outfielder Shannon Carter stole a team-leading 33 bases. Marcos Sandoval led the Suns with 163.2 innings pitched, while Travis Hubbel posted a 3.89 ERA in 19 starts. Matt Ford, a 19-year-old left-hander, went 5–3 with a 3.87 ERA in 18 games, 14 of which were starts. He struck out 86 batters in 83 innings with the team. Rob Hamman picked up 8 wins while pitching in 34 games, but only one of them was a start. The most unusual aspect of the season was the bench–clearing brawl that occurred in July against the Columbus Red Stixx at Municipal Stadium. The Suns were losing when Reed Johnson was hit by a pitch that caused outfielder Auntwan Riggins to charge the pitcher from the dugout. The brawl led to so many ejections that Columbus was unable to field a full team and had to forfeit the game to the Suns. Officially, Hagerstown was declared the game's winner by a 9–1 score.
San Francisco Giants (2001–2004) The 2001 season brought on a lot of changes for the Hagerstown Suns. After eight seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays, the team switched its parent club to the San Francisco Giants. The team was also sold to Andy Rayburn. On the field, the Suns returned to winning. The offense got power from Dan Trumble, who led the team with 26 home runs. Outfielder Jason Ellison put together a good season, as he batted .291 with a team leading 19 stolen bases in 130 games. Adam Shabala would post a solid .313 batting average in a span of 70 games. The pitching staff was the best that the Suns had since joining the South Atlantic League, as two pitchers won over 10 games. Boof Bonser tied the Suns' record for wins in a season with 16, while losing just 4 games. He also struck out 178 batters in 134 innings, earning him the South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Year Award. Another player with 10 plus wins was Jeff Clark. Clark would go 14–9 while posting a solid 3.65 Earned Run Average (ERA) in 27 games. The most impressive season for the Suns may have come out of the bullpen, as closer Jackson Markert put together a memorable year. Markert broke the Suns' save record by picking up 39 saves and posting a 2.82 ERA. His success was a big reason why the Suns advanced to the playoffs. After winning the Northern Division second-half title, the Suns entered the playoffs, but came up short as Lexington swept them in two games.
The Suns missed the playoffs in 2002, suffering a losing record. Tyler Von Schell led the Suns in home runs with 14. Julian Benavidez led the way in RBIs. Brandon Florence may have been the best all-around hitter on the team with an batting average of .303, with 11 home runs, and 63 RBI in 109 games. On the pitching side, Anthony Pannone led the Suns with nine wins and led innings pitched with 168.2. Ryan Hannaman put together a nice season with a 2.80 ERA and 145 strikeouts in 131.2 innings. Suns fans also saw a glimpse of what was to come with Francisco Liriano. Liriano went 3–6, but had a 3.59 ERA and struck out 85 batters in 80 innings as an 18-year-old. The Suns finished 20.5 games back of the first place, and eventual league champions Hickory Crawdads. Mandalay Entertainment Group purchased the team from Andy Rayburn.
The team scraped together a winning season in 2003 but did not make the playoffs. The Suns' best power hitter in 2003 was Carlos Sosa, who led the team in both homeruns and RBI with 10 and 63. Derin McMains hit a solid .289 in 54 games before he was promoted to High-A San Jose. Brian Buscher would come to the Suns in the second half and hit .275 in 54 games. The strength of the Suns in 2003 lied in their pitching staff, in which several pitchers had great seasons. Merkin Valdez went 9–5 with a 2.25 ERA in 26 starts. He also led the Suns in innings pitched with 156, and strikeouts with 166. Josh Habel led the team with 11 wins in 36 games, 16 of which were starts. Habel also accumulated 127 strikeouts in 122 innings. Brian Stirm was also solid, as he went 8–5 with a 2.86 ERA in 17 games. Other noteworthy starters for the Suns in 2003 were Clay Hensley and Matt Cain. Hensley went 4–3 with 3.18 ERA in 12 starts before he was promoted to High–A San Jose, but one start in particular was noteworthy. On May 3, 2003, Hensley threw the Suns' only perfect game. He did this by retiring 21 consecutive batters in the second game of a double header against the Kannapolis Intimidators. Meanwhile, Matt Cain went 4–4 in 14 starts with the Suns, while posting a 2.55 ERA. He struck out 90 batters in just 74 innings. In the bullpen, Matt Palmer would have a great season as he went 5–0 with a 1.20 ERA and 25 saves. The Suns pitching staff in 2003 stands out among the best in franchise history.